Polly Carmichael became the director of the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock in 2009. “I remember our office was literally a room that had probably been a broom cupboard at one stage”, she recalls. But the decision in 2011 to start offering puberty blockers to under-16s, and in 2016 to widen the professionals who could refer a child to GIDS had a major impact. The numbers of people on the waiting list ticked inexorably up, until the clinic felt it could barely cope.
Writer and journalist Liv Little and Observer critic Miranda Sawyer get notes from editors all the time – now it’s their turn to hand them out. Every Wednesday morning, Liv and Miranda weigh in on the latest cultural happenings, from reality TV meltdowns and art house films, to gallery openings and TikTok trends. Smart, funny, and full of sharp observations. We Have Notes is culture with commentary.